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International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, will request authorization from the Judges to open an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Cote d’Ivoire. If the Chamber grants the authorization the Office of the Prosecutor will open an...

At least 300,000 civilians are still displaced in Côte d’Ivoire two months after the end of the post-election crisis, the United Nations refugee agency reported, adding that ongoing insecurity in some areas is preventing their return.

Security in Côte d’Ivoire’s biggest city, Abidjan, is improving and commercial activities such as retail trade and banking are resuming, but tensions remain high in other parts of the country, notably the west, where outbreaks of violence have been recorded, the United Nations reported today.

Militiamen loyal to former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo killed 120 people during a "scorched earth" retreat from Abidjan last week, the Defence Ministry said. The United Nations said it was investigating the report.

United Nations human rights workers have found the bodies of nearly 70 people, apparently the victims of a militia backing the former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, in a series of graves in a suburb of Côte d’Ivoire’s biggest city, Abidjan.

Government forces in the Ivory Coast say they are now in control of the whole of the main city of Abidjan. Supporters of ousted President Laurent Gbagbo had been holding out in Yopougon district but a military commander said they had now been defeated.

More than three weeks after the end of the post-electoral crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, the humanitarian situation in the country remains alarming for tens of thousands of civilians despite improved security, the United Nations refugee agency warned today.

The leader of a militia that helped Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara defeat rival Laurent Gbagbo was killed in a gun battle on Wednesday after he and his men refused to obey a presidential order to disarm.

The post-electoral crisis in Côte d’Ivoire may have ended but thousands of civilians are still suffering from the consequences of the four months of turmoil that engulfed the West African nation and require increased humanitarian assistance, the United Nations said today.

Ivory Coast's new President Alassane Ouattara has said all sides in the country's conflict must face justice. He said he would ask the International Criminal Court to probe massacres in which both his forces and those of his rival Laurent Gbagbo were suspected.

Opposition forces in Ivory Coast besieged the residence of the nation’s strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, for a second consecutive day on Thursday, hoping to seize him alive for a possible trial after he refused French and United Nations demands to step down.

The office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today said it may open investigations into the “widespread and systematic” killings in Côte d’Ivoire, including the reported mass murder of civilians, saying it is gathering information on alleged crimes by all parties to the...

With the post-electoral deadlock in Côte d’Ivoire now entering its fifth month and the crisis showing no signs of abating, the Security Council today demanded an immediate end to the violence against civilians and decided to impose targeted sanctions against former president Laurent Gbagbo, his...

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast says it is concerned that heavy weapons could be used against civilians as rival presidents struggle for power. In a statement Tuesday, the mission said forces loyal to incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo are repairing an attack helicopter and preparing...

Thousands of residents of Côte d’Ivoire’s commercial capital, Abidjan, have been flocking to bus stations seeking transport out of the city fearing that an all-out war is in the offing after an escalation of violence, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire today strongly condemned the increasing violence that is affecting many parts of the country, calling for an immediate end to the strife that is hampering efforts to resolve the ongoing political crisis.

Côte d’Ivoire is on the verge of a new civil war between the army loyal to the defiant Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to acknowledge he lost the November 2010 presidential election, and the “Forces nouvelles” (FN), the ex-insurgency now supporting the winner, Alassane Ouattara.

Explosions rocked the southern Abidjan suburb of Koumassi overnight and on Wednesday, as fighting between insurgents seeking to oust Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo and security forces spread to new areas of the main city.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire today deplored the excessive use of force against demonstrators in the city of Abidjan and surrounding areas over the past couple of days, saying the violence had left dozens of people dead or wounded.

The Security Council today decided to extend up to three months the temporary redeployment of United Nations peacekeeping units from Liberia to Côte d’Ivoire, which has been bedevilled by a political deadlock arising from presidential elections late last year.

… IRIN’s series of revised briefings takes a look at the handling of the crisis by the UN, African Union, ECOWAS, western governments and the European Union (EU), while also looking at the humanitarian consequences of the breakdown.

Lawyers for Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo have asked a court in Nigeria to annul declarations by regional body ECOWAS that his rival Alassane Ouattara won a presidential election last November.

United Nations peacekeepers in Côte d’Ivoire, where former president Laurent Gbagbo refuses to step down despite his electoral defeat, are crucial to preventing a possible resumption of civil war, and they will respond with force if attacked, the top UN envoy in the country said today.

Several countries are ready to provide reinforcements for the 9,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire, where the former president’s refusal to step down despite his electoral defeat has led to violence and the displacement of tens of thousands of people, a top UN official...

Recognising Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo as president is out of the question for African leaders trying to resolve the country's post-election crisis, the West African regional bloc ECOWAS said on Sunday. Its statement was the strongest sign yet that Gbagbo had failed to convert African unease over...

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today outlined the principles he said should guide efforts to resolve the political crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, including the demand that outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo step down to allow the formation of a national unity government by president-elect, Alassane...

ECOWAS is dispatching a powerful delegation to the United States and the United Nations to garner their support for a possible use of force to oust incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, ECOWAS sources told PANA here Tuesday.

While the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) faces a climate of orchestrated and growing hostility, local UN employees, even those working with agencies completely separate from UNOCI, are living in fear.

The United Nations today reinforced its nearly 9,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire with extra peacekeepers and helicopters, as senior officials called for urgent action to prevent growing post-electoral violence from degenerating into genocide.

Forces loyal to the former president of Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo – who refuses to step down despite his electoral defeat – have opened fire towards United Nations peacekeepers in a new “act of aggression,” according to the UN envoy on the ground there.

IRIN has produced a series of briefings exploring the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire triggered by contested elections in November 2010. … The series takes a look at the UN’s position, issues of human rights, as well as the stances of the African Union, ECOWAS, western governments and the EU and World Bank.

UN peacekeepers in Ivory Coast are sending a request to the Security Council for 1,000 to 2,000 more troops amid the continuing political crisis. UN peacekeeping chief in Ivory Coast Alain Le Roy said he hoped the troops would be available in a few weeks.

A day after intensive talks with both Gbagbo and Ouattara, a group of African leaders said the veteran incumbent had promised that the dispute would be settled peacefully. … ECOWAS stressed that military intervention in Ivory Coast was still an option if talks failed to end the impasse, while the...